Global Forces Spiral
Seacoast Science Center, Rye, NH 1995
Stone spiral, 30'x30' / 9.1x9.1m, 30 sea kayakers in process of making a spiral on water, separated by shoreline.

Global Forces Spiral was a three-day art event
funded by the New Hampshire State Council for
the Arts. The objective was to link art and science
through the use of a symbolic representation of
world-wide ocean currents. The symbol I arrived
at was a clockwise spiral representing the general
flow of currents North of the Equator, the coastline
to suggest the Equator, and a counter-clockwise
spiral reminiscent of the flow of currents South of
the Equator. I hired another sculptor, Mark
Ragonese, for his skill with rocks and we worked
with fifty-two summer camp kids and their
councelors to build the stone spiral. There were
also vertical banners at the cardinal points. I
organized an exhibit of spirals in art and nature
and a short performance piece. Then on the third
day I lead the thirty kayakers, with the help of John Halloran of Adventure Learning, into the form of a
spiral on the water of the bay using the banners as indicators of the location of the stone spiral on land.
It was an ephemeral, but effective, symbolic event.

photo credit : Bill Hoyt